Daniel Craig appears to be fed up with all the James Bond questions thrown his way and made this known in his curt reply during a recent interview, when asked about his replacement for the role.
The 56-year-old announced he was quitting the iconic role following the release of No Time To Die in 2021. It was his fifth and last stunt as the British spy in the long-standing franchise which included Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre. His was the longest tenure at 15 years compared to previous Bonds including George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan.
After the grueling action stunts that resulted in several injuries, you can just imagine the relief he must have felt at having to finally leave that part of his career behind. On the contrary, he had to succumb to the endless questions about who will take over the mantle of Agent 007. Imagine having to entertain the same question for three years. It’s no wonder that he was rather blunt in his reply when asked by Variety on who he thinks will become the next James Bond.
Interviewer: If you were to pass the James Bond torch, who would youE love to see play him?
Craig: I don’t care.
It’s worth pointing out though that he wasn’t angry at the question as he even chuckled. The nonchalant response shows that he just doesn’t care anymore who will be the next James Bond.
Elsewhere in the interview, Craig even struggled to remember the number of James Bond films he has made. He said “too many” at first before finally counting down to five. Since his exit from the franchise, names have been thrown around as to who could potentially replace him. Pundits included Idris Elba (Luther), Tom Hardy (Venom), Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders), Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Paul Mescal (Normal People).
There’s also Theo James (Divergent), Callum Turner (Masters of the Air), Aaron Pierre (Rebel Ridge), and James Norton (Happy Valley). But film producer Barbara Broccoli has been vague in her response when asked about the next James Bond installment.
She said the character has to be “reinvented for the next chapter” and gave a sobering update with The Guardian last year saying: “I go back to GoldenEye when everyone was saying ‘the cold war is over, the wall is over, Bond is dead, no need for Bond, the whole world’s at peace and now there’s no villains’ – and boy was that wrong!”
Broccoli added that executives have yet to scratch the surface of modernizing the franchise, which is needed whenever a new actor takes on the role. Craig’s James Bond focused on “what a 21st century hero would look like.” Speaking about the actor’s time on the franchise:
Daniel gave us the ability to mine the emotional life of the character … and also the world was ready for it. I think these movies reflect the time they are in, and there’s a big, big road ahead reinventing it for the next chapter and we haven’t even begun with that.”
She also talked about how these James Bond films is intense work that “takes our full attention for three or four years… We make the Bond movies for the big theatrical screen and everything about the Bond movies is for audiences to see around the world on that format.”
So what’s next for Craig after James Bond? So far he has been enjoying a switch to comedy with roles in Knives Out and Glass Onion. His recent film Queer by Luca Guadagnino sees him portraying a gay man in 1950s Mexico opposite Outer Banks star Drew Starkey.
Published: Nov 6, 2024 04:38 am